The Color of a Dream

Once upon a time there was a balloon that wanted to be free. 

Born into a large bouquet, she knew freedom once, a brief escape, until a cord was tied to her tail to hold her tight. She pressed up toward the bright blue sky at the edge of the county fair. 

Small, and squeezed into the middle, she tried to get out but the balloons around her twitched and twirled in a cluster of ever-moving colors; yellows, whites, reds, greens, blues and purples. 

Violet didn’t know what color she was, but she wished to be colored in hope, blue to match the huge sky above.

One after another of her sisters left, picked out by the little animals below. She danced furiously, frantically stretching to be the next one to escape among the last few who whooshed and whipped around her.

Dreams of freedom mesmerized her, while tugs of temptation whispered promises of what could be. 

Violet stretched, springing up and down as she pulled against her cord, desperate to float free and unencumbered, to travel across the world, dancing in the currents. The blue of the bright sky above her matched her she knew, and she needed to be there. 

Suddenly she was pulled away, yanked down by her tail. This would be her chance! 

‘Balloon!” The little boy in a purple jacket called out. “Blue!”

“OK, but Peter, I need to tie it to your wrist. Your balloon is not blue! Oh we need to work on our colors. You’re almost three years old. Your balloon is-”

“-Blue!” Peter cried out, his face blazing red, his arms flailing wide, tugging the balloon along.

Violet danced up and down as her cord yanked her away. Confined in only a tight circle of movement, she jerked and jagged in every direction but couldn’t understand why she couldn't get to the sky.

“Do you want to see the animals Peter?”

“Rabbits!” The boy screamed. Peter jumped and ran, the string tied to his wrist ignored.

He hurdled yellow stripes on the ground, bounced off burnt orange rubbish bins and scaled blue-gray steps before grasping the silver cages. A moment of respite, then the boy was off again.  

Violet caromed left and right circling all over the fair, following Peter as he ran on the emerald green grass, when he ate his pink cotton candy and slurped from a cherry lime icee. Violet weaved and wobbled, ducked and dove as she chased the small animal below, and dodged the monsters attacking her.

Violet did not like these green beasts.  She tapped against sepia limbs, and the leaves of green, red and amber that fell away as she knocked into them. Their long thin fingers reached out to take swipes at her, scraping her sensitive skin and threatening to snatch her from the air. 

Tugs from fast breezes pulled her to the front, back and side to side. No matter what she did she could not escape. Stuck to this cord and this animal below, she longed to get up into the blue sky where she belonged.

She reached out again to the indigo, cerulean ceiling above her. Violet searched for the hole, the spot in the sky where she belonged.  Could it be the bright white hole, blazing out to her?

She tossed and tugged, and then suddenly, with a soft ting, she was free!

“My balloon!” Peter cried out.

Violet flew! The wind buffeted her, blowing her around and around, but always up! Her chest filled with joy rising into the huge blue ball surrounding her. Effortlessly she floated, following the whims of the wind, soaring above the animals below, now only pinpricks.  

And she was alone. Before she had been with her sisters, or tied to the animal, but now she was free and the sudden change scared her. The empty space around her grew larger, the nothingness expanding into an infinite blue of loneliness.

She filled with fear, shivering once, then twice. Something was wrong. The beautiful blue sky, once so warm, began to grow cold. The frigid air reached deep inside Violet and squeezed. Dark discordant notes thrummed through her fast-thickening skin, and she could no longer move up.  A pause, she stretched one more time, but began to sink, dropping down. Shame and disgust colored her as she fell away from her dream towards the ground. Something inside her had failed. She didn’t deserve to be free, and now she could only fall. The blue sky pulled further and further away until-

In a sudden jerk, she stopped.

 She had fallen into her enemy! Emerald green leaves gripped her, pulling her into their terrible embrace.

Violet wailed, a screeching lament. Was this all she deserved, to be devoured by this giant monster? She reached, desperate again to escape but only fell further into the ever- tightening fingers.

Dark umber, scraggly branches scratched her skin. Frustration at her confinement colored her in fiery red. She had her chance and failed. Why try to escape, only to fall further to the ground?

Violet saw her animal below jumping toward her, his hands reaching.

Fear and hope intermingled in a dizzying dance as she twisted further into the monster’s leaves.

The boy reached up. “Balloon!” He cried out.

“A lost balloon! Let me see if I can get it down.”

A long stick reached up, tapping at Violet, once then twice, whacking at the branch holding her tight. A sharp branch poked her skin. Another hit like that, and her life force would be let out, and the monster trapping her would win. 

What was she? She once was free, let loose into the wild blue, but now she was scared. Deep vermillion fear of the cold, and of the monster that held her grew inside her.

The red fear began to take over the last of her blue hope. 

Again, the stick rose to take a large thwack at the leaves. This time Violet twirled, choosing to fight one last time to get out. The leaves released her, and she began to move, but with her energy spent, she no longer desired to escape. She drifted softly down to where she wanted to be.

“There’s a balloon for you Peter! Now don’t let it go again, and no more tears! “

“Blue!” Peter shrieked in happiness. 

“No, Peter, your balloon is purple, just like your jacket. Please hold on this time.”

The little animal squeezed her tight, squishing her into a long tube. Violet was no longer alone. She squeaked with joy, as she now knew the color of her dreams.